The Playboy Mansion Is On It's Way To Becoming A Historic Monument

A new addition may be joining the list of historic monuments in Los Angeles, the world-famous Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills is on track to becoming a historic monument as a tribute to the cultural icon. A member of the Los Angeles City Council introduced a motion Tuesday to label the mansion historic and give it a legal protection.

The property gained notoriety for being owned by Playboy Enterprises since 1971, a company created by Hugh Hefner that put out sexually explicit magazines. Hefner himself lived in the mansion until he died on September 27, 2017. The mansion was actually sold last year for $100 million to billionaire businessman Daren Metropoulos under the condition that Hefner could stay there until he passed away.

Metropoulos announced he planned on connecting the mansion to his own estate, "ultimately returning the combined 7.3-acre compound to the original vision executed by architect Arthur R. Kelly and its first owner, Arthur Letts Jr., the department store heir whose father conceived and developed Holmby Hills when it was the Wolfskill Ranch."

The first Playboy magazine was issued in December 1953 and it quickly rose to be the world's favorite men's magazine eventually branching off into several successful enterprises such as nightclubs. The historic status would limit the changes that could be made to the structure without a review.